


I Trust You

by NerdHerder12



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Family, Feelings, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, For a genius he's pretty stupid sometimes, Mac pulls his head out of the sand, Minor Injuries, My pitch for Season 5, Riley is always there for Mac, Romance, Trust, but we love them anyway, macriley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdHerder12/pseuds/NerdHerder12
Summary: Mac and Riley are trapped underground with another bomb. Riley refuses to leave him, and their trust in each other surfaces again. Mac has a realization he should have had years ago.
Relationships: Riley Davis/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 165





	I Trust You

**Author's Note:**

> It's been years since I've written anything, but Mac has been on my mind ever since I finished Season 4. I'll admit, throughout Season 3 I was fine with Mac and Desi - she was there for him, and they were kind of cute. I liked her. But then she showed just how little it took for her to distrust Mac in Season 4, and I realized that Riley was the one who was always there, trust never wavering. That combined with the little bits in the show that suggest the writers are heading towards a Mac/Riley storyline convinced me. Hopefully we get some sort of realization from Mac in Season 5.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry Bozer isn't in this. I couldn't figure out a way to meaningfully include him without just giving him a generic line from the war room. Hopefully we get more scenes with Justin in Season 5 too!

Mac fisted his hands in his hair, panic and frustration evident in his voice.

"I - I can't do this. This isn't like any bomb I've ever seen. It has components and wiring and switches I've never dealt with before, the timer's down to ten minutes, I can't do this, we have to figure out a way to get you out of here before it goes off, I can't - "

"Mac." Riley stepped forward - towards Mac, towards the bomb. They were trapped in the underground bunker, collapsed rock on both sides sealing them out. There was nowhere to run, no way to move the rock out from the inside. She gripped Mac by the shoulders, stopping his pacing. Riley did her best to steel herself and hide how unsteady her voice was.

"You can do this. You can figure this out. You've defused bombs with less time on the clock than this one. We all trust you, Mac. Just breathe. In and out. You can do this."

"I can't - "

"You can."

Mac let out a shaky breath. He stilled and closed his eyes, following Riley's breathing cadence until his hands felt steady again. He opened his eyes again and gave Riley a short nod.

Riley stepped back as Mac turned back to the control panel on the bomb and began to assess how to defuse each component.

"Riley, how's Blondie doing?" Matty's voice cut in through the comms.

"He's fine, he's working on defusing the bomb right now. We still have nine minutes left."

Mac looked as though he was confidently and swiftly working through the panel, but Riley could still see the slight tremor in his hands as he carefully unscrewed the lid housing more wires. She shuffled further back in the corner, near the collapsed rock. Riley knew it wouldn't matter. If the bomb went off, her being a foot further away wouldn't save her. Still, she stayed in the corner.

"Good to know he's working on it," Matty responded. "I'm letting you know there should be a fire team at your location now and they're going to try and move some of the rock and clear a path for you guys." 

Sure enough, Riley could hear noises distantly and the sound of scraping rock.

"Thanks, Matty," she responded. "We can't clear everyone in the blast radius, but they should be ready to leave if they can't get this cleared out in the next minute, or they'll be caught in the blast too. Seven minutes left. Are Desi and Russ staying clear?"

"The fire team know the risk they're taking, Riley. The best option we have now is to get you both above ground and avoid being directly next to the bomb if it goes off. Desi and Russ are still tangled with the suspects two miles out. They won't make it in time."

Mac let out the breath he'd been holding as he continued to work on the bomb. Desi and Russ were too far to make it here; that meant they were safe. That only left him, and Riley, and everyone in a mile radius - but Matty was right. Being above ground was a lot safer than down here.

"Riles. When they clear a path, go with them, get them out of the blast radius. Even if you can't make it far, it's the safest option if this goes off." Mac snipped another wire.

Riley looked at him incredulously, but not surprised in the least. "Mac, I'm not leaving you here!"

"You have to, Riles. I'm going to do my best, but there's no guarantee I can stop it. You should get out while you can."

There were more shuffling sounds, and Riley saw a crack of light through the rocks as louder voices filtered in.

"I'm not leaving, not until this is over," Riley said, determined. "I'm not leaving you. I know you can stop this, Mac."

Five minutes remained on the clock. There was a lot more shuffling, and then the light blinded Riley as the last large rock was cleared out. One of the firemen poked his head through and offered his hand.

"The path is clear, we can get you both out of here, just be careful and watch your step."

Riley shook her head. "Thanks, but you guys should head out. We'll make our own way once we've defused the bomb here."

The fireman nodded and stepped back, heading back above ground.

"Riley. Go." Mac didn't look at her as he tugged out a few more wires, but Riley could hear the edge to his voice. "I need to stay, but you're putting yourself in unnecessary danger!"

His hands were shaking more now. Riley stepped back towards Mac, kneeling down on the ground next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder, grounding him. 

"I'm not leaving you alone down here Mac. I trust you can stop this. You're not alone, remember? You're never alone. I'm not leaving you here to face those demons. I know you've got this. There are two minutes left. It was going to take me at _least_ three to carefully get out of here without setting off more cave-ins. I'm. Not. Leaving."

Mac closed his eyes for a brief second, Riley's grip on his shoulder helping still his hands.

"Thanks," he whispered quietly. He was already thinking of disastrous scenarios before Riley brought it up, but he pushed it down as best he could and focused on the last wire. He tugged it out carefully, positioning the scissors. A minute and a half left.

Mac turned his head away, glancing at Riley next to him who gave him a tight smile and a nod. Mac took a deep breath in, and snipped the wire.

Silence. 

Mac dared a glance back and breathed out a huge sigh of relief. The clock was frozen at 1:02. The light stopped flashing, the bomb was no longer beeping. It was over.

He got up on shaky legs. Riley helped him up before she wrapped him up in a hug, gripping him tightly.

"I told you," she said, laughing or crying, she couldn't tell. "You could do this."

Mac grinned back. Another close call, his brain supplied. Mac tried not to dwell on it. He could accept the victory now, and worry later.

They carefully exited the collapsed area, notifying Matty that the situation was handled. Matty herself sounded more relieved than they'd heard her before.

"Good work, you two. Medics are on their way to make sure you're fine. You had a lot of rock dropped on you. Desi and Russ will rendezvous here, then you're all headed to the airstrip in an hour."

"Copy that." Riley finally stepped out onto solid ground, still squinting at the brightness and looking around at the empty, blocked off roads. It was over. Everyone was safe.

Riley noticed Mac wince as he made his way out, and quickly made her way over to support him as he limped slightly.

"You alright?" She questioned, even though she knew the answer.

"I'm fine," Mac said, but still allowing her to support his weight. "I think it's just a sprain from the cave-in. Didn't notice until we made it out."

"Of course you didn't," Riley shook her head fondly. The precarious way they had to place their footing to clear the collapsed rock could not have been good on his sprained ankle. Leave it to Mac to constantly shut off any idea that he needed help.

The moment the medics arrived, Riley helped him over, making sure that they were aware of Mac's ankle despite his protests that he was fine to walk. Riley walked off as she saw Desi and Russ in the distance heading towards them on foot, leaving Mac with the care of the medics.

Mac sat at the back of the medic van, nodding and answering as they asked him questions, but his mind was elsewhere. 

He kept playing those last ten minutes over and over again in his head. This wasn't uncommon. Mac often reran missions in his head, to figure out where he could have gone wrong or what he could have done differently. Except this time, he wasn't recalling defusing the bomb. He was remembering Riley's words to him.

_"We all trust you."_

_"I'm not leaving, not until this is over. I'm not leaving you. I know you can stop this, Mac."_

They all trusted him. And they did, _now_ , but that wasn't the case two months ago, was it? Desi had said she never stopped trusting him, that day on the soccer pitch - but her and Russ didn't hesitate to turn on him when he left to infiltrate Codex. Riley didn't though. She trusted him. She always did.

It dawned on Mac then. Why he never needed to second guess Riley's actions in the field, why he always gravitated towards Riley and her intel when they were in danger, even though Desi was meant to watch his back. He trusted her more than anyone else on the team. Just the same way she did him.

This was also how they always ended up trapped in a dangerous situation together. Both trusting the other to get them out of it. Both refusing to leave the other. One of these days, Mac reflected morbidly, they might not make it out.

And wasn't that linked to what Mac had told Riley months ago? That he'd imagined himself dying, countless times, and regretted being alone the most. Not having someone to think of in his last moments. But there he was today, defusing an impossible bomb on an impossible timeline - and on the last wire cut, just before the timer finally stopped and the red light flashed off, he glanced away from the bomb and at Riley. Because he needed to know he wasn't alone. That if the wire was the wrong one to cut, he wasn't alone. 

Mac had meant it when he told Riley to leave, to run, to try and get out of the blast radius. She didn't need to be there. She needed to think of herself first. But Mac couldn't help the small selfish beat of relief in his heart when Riley refused to leave and instead stayed to steady him through the last minutes.

He'd do the same for her, of course. 

Mac wasn't sure what to do with this newfound understanding of his trust in Riley, and her unwavering trust in him. Sure, they had known each other for years by now, and had developed this inexplicable bond. But now that Mac thought about it, it wasn't quite the same as the trust he had with Jack. Mac trusted Jack completely as well - but it was easy when Jack was an open book. There were no secrets between them. Nothing was left off the table.

With Riley however, Mac could tell when she was holding back. Like when Riley kept her relationship with Aubrey a secret, or whenever she wanted to say something to Mac but thought the better of it. Mac could tell, but he didn't pry. And it didn't matter. Because Mac trusted her with all of it, whether he knew what she was holding back or not.

This realization scared him a little. Mac wasn't one to analyze his own emotions often. But he couldn't deny now that there _were_ emotions. What those feelings truly were, Mac didn't know. It was more than just trust when he looked at Riley. It was more than just camaraderie when they laughed together. It was more than just relief when they hugged each other after nearly being blown to pieces. Mac didn't want to fall too far into the rabbit hole, so he stopped himself before he faced the root of what he was feeling. That could come later. But for now, Mac just knew he couldn't leave all of it in his head.

Riley came around the corner as the medics finished wrapping his ankle. 

"Hey," she greeted softly. "Matty's got a car for us back to the airport; Russ and Desi's rental didn't make it." She gave him a small smile, and Mac could only replay his thoughts again as he looked at her.

Riley furrowed her brow. "You okay, Mac? Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

Mac shook his head and snapped out of it. 

"I'm fine," he said, giving her a smile back. "Just trying to clear my head. Riles - "

"No, it's fine, I totally get it," she said, sitting next to him on the back of the van. "That was scary. And stressful. Not an easy thing to clear out of your head."

Mac shifted closer to her. He tentatively placed his hand over Riley's, and forced himself to look up and at her, and not down at his lap.

"That's - that's not exactly what I meant, Riles." Mac worried his lower lip between his teeth. Riley didn't speak, but she didn't move her hand out from under his, either, and Mac thought he saw her eyes widen ever so slightly.

"I was thinking about what you said to me earlier. About trusting me. And when you didn't leave - I kept thinking about all these situations we get ourselves in, and I realized I do the same thing. Trust you, that is. I trust you unlike anyone else."

Riley turned her palm around from under Mac's hand and threaded her fingers through his, giving him a nod and an encouraging smile. She could sense where this was going, and she wasn't quite sure what to say yet.

"And I guess I didn't see it earlier," Mac continued. "But I do now, and I felt like I should say something. I know this might not mean anything, and you have every right to be mad at me, or forget everything I'm about to say - "

Riley reached up with her free hand to the base of Mac's neck, pulling him closer and pressing her lips against his.

Mac froze for a second before his brain caught up and then he kissed her back, slowly, untangling his fingers from hers and cupping her face with both hands. It was unlike any kiss he'd ever had. It wasn't heated, it wasn't adrenaline fueled. It wasn't leading up to anything else. It just _was_. It was slow, and soft, both of them testing the waters and not pushing too hard.

Mac eventually pulled away, slowly, eyes opening and taking in Riley's wide, brown ones.

"That was overdue," she commented, a teasing smile on her face. "For a genius, it took you long enough to figure this out."

Mac replicated her expression, then leaned in and gave Riley another short kiss.

"You're right," he said, pulling away, a soft smile on his face. "Better late than never, though."

As they got up and stepped away from the van, Riley still offering Mac some support, Desi's voice cut in through their comms.

"I'm really happy for you guys. Seriously. This should have happened like, forever ago. But next time can you keep the comms off while you guys are sucking face?"

Mac turned bright red and yanked out his receiver as he saw Desi and Russ approaching, grinning from ear to ear. Riley would have been just as shocked, but Mac's reaction was so comical, she couldn't help but laugh.

Desi pulled Mac in for a hug, then knocked him in the shoulder. 

"This team has no boundaries, I swear," she said, shaking her head. "I've heard way too many personal conversations I wish I could unhear."

Russ thankfully only offered a smile, and didn't comment further on it. "Let's get back home, shall we? Car's this way."

And for once, Mac kept his thoughts in the present rather than the past, focusing on the feeling of Riley sitting next to him as they headed home.


End file.
